What Fuels You?

“I will stop when a great big bolt of lightning hits me from the sky and God says, ‘Come on now, that’s enough’.” – Wilbur Smith

Just a bit of background, Wilbur Smith,78, is the multiple best-selling author of books like “Those in Peril” and “When the Lion Feeds”. That’s really not so much the point, whether he is a best-selling author or not. What hits is his energy for doing something he truly loves.

Two points stem from this. One is that age is and should not be barrier in preventing us from doing something which we have always wanted or loved to do. It may be that an opportunity has not arised for us, or it may be that our focus should be on other things due to circumstances. But let’s not all be discouraged by our biological clocks.

A clock should be an ongoing mechanism that keeps ticking. There are two ways at how you look at it. If you look at it in the negative way, it is akin to bomb, that ticks it’s way to explosion. That’s how we get the term, walking time bomb. That’s how we have people who goes, “too late”, “no time”, “it’s gone”, “can never reverse time”, “can never go back anymore”. The latter three are true to a certain extent. It’s a fact, in fact. The first two can be a bit true, but we can choose to turn it around. Look, it’s a choice. On whether we want to let the bomb explode or let it continue ticking.

If you allow it to continue ticking, that’s the real spirit we should all be gearing towards. Cliche phrases like “time took a standstill” and “wish time would stop” are meant to describe magical moments but we all know that time would not come to a standstill or it would not stop no matter how magical the moment is. Still, there is no wrong in engaging in such fantasies once in a while. After all, we all need some form of fantasies in our lives. If not, life would be dull and even worse, meaningless. Sometimes it is these fantasies which may keep us going. You can stand still for just that moment in time, but definitely not forever. The pendulum will continue to tick. And now, you’ve got to ask yourself, what gets you ticking?

As emphasised, our age should not be the barrier. It may be true that with age, your health and mind may not be as good as it once was, but there are other things which can only get better with age. Certain skills can only come about with experience. And that’s only if you keep going at it, and your brain would gradually develop more wiring connections for that skill, making you better at it. Research have also shown that satisfaction increases with age. How true is it with you? It may be that as one grows older, he/she becomes more accepting of reality and have a better sense of what they truly want in their lifetime. Or it may be that they get more adept at doing certain things, or have found the thing they have always kept inside them but could not materialise when they were younger for whatever reasons.

This will lead to the second point, which is knowing what exactly fuels us in life. In Wilbur Smith’s case, being an author, we all know that writing is his life, not just only his ricebowl. You will know it when it comes when that something is more than just your ricebowl, to just feed you everyday. At the very basic of things, we all need some form of food and water to keep us physically alive. Even a brain-dead patient is fed through feeding tubes glucose. This is the fuel for the body. To just keep us alive. But the question is not about being just alive. How alive do you want your life to be? And that’s when it is crucial to know what fuels you to the point of being kept alive. If not, you will be just be someone whom everyone calls, “no life”.

But do note, everybody’s idea of “life” differs. You may like engaging in something which you find very lively, say watching TV, but others will come and turn around and call you “no life”. Don’t be mistaken, there is no wrong in watching TV if that actually fuels you, but turning into a couch potato is going to be a different story. In short, there must be a balance. We cannot expect a person to hole himself and herself up in the lab or in the room whole day, with no food, no sleep, no nothing just researching, writing, or watching TV. Yes, balance is the key to your fuel. You don’t overdose your car with petrol right?

In Wilbur Smith’s words, “Writer’s block is for those who are too afraid to take a chance.” How true it is and what a pity that is. For most of us, it happens. This shall not apply to writers, but to all. Many a times, we are just too afraid to take a chance. Maybe fear of failure? Lazy? Can’t be bothered? But isn’t that a pity? Especially if you really have something and know that there is something out there that fuels you? It’s a waste, because the things you are interested in and (may be good in) is something that is God-given (or in the secular sense, natural gift, innate ability, special interest etc). Are you sure you want to waste that?

So whatever it is, don’t waste that chance that you can have. There is a fuel in all of us. If you think that life is mundane, it is not. Only if you choose to. It is more than just working for the sake of working (not everyone can do a job that they life. Even so, sometimes doing a job that you love can bring more pain than joy depending on how you look at it). It is more than earning big bucks, it is more than doing for pleasing. There is definitely something which fuels you. This is the fuel which can tide you over when life suddenly becomes stagnant.

With that, whatever it is, keep on drawing, keep on cooking, keep on writing, keep on reading, keep on fishing, keep climbing, keep on playing, keep on making, and even keep on eating (balance, balance though). Keep on whatever.

Keep that energy alive in you for as long as you can. You will see that you will have no regrets thereafter.